My Way or the Highway

This week we asked two NHL coaches: How often do you practise the shootout? I believe it’s a way to earn valuable points, so we try to make it fun, make it a competition for the guys. Not every practice, but several times a week. Several players take it upon themselves to practise it after normal practice. They have fun, make it a friendly competition. As a team, we include random drills that emphasize those techniques, but it varies as to when we include them.…

Giguere; No apologies

JEAN-SEBASTIEN GIGUERE has a confession to make, one that may surprise critics who find it so easy to rip his puck-blocking style. He dreams about being Martin Brodeur. A healthy one, of course. “I wish I could play like Marty,” said Giguere of his much more acrobatic New Jersey counterpart. “He’s unbelievable in the way he plays, but I couldn’t play like that. I couldn’t make the saves he makes, because I don’t have his talent. So I have to be more technically sound, I have to make sure my technique is always the right way.” (Brodeur, for the first time in his career, sustained a long-term injury in early November – in the distal biceps in his left elbow – and is out until at least February.) Few work harder to perfect…

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RISE OF THE RIGHT

It’s probably cold comfort for Republicans who no longer have control of the Oval Office, Senate or Congress. But take it from us, the right is on the rise. In recent years, finding an elite right-hand shot defenseman has been about as easy as locating weapons of mass destruction. But that will change in a big way in the coming seasons. For starters, Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators, Brent Burns of the Minnesota Wild, Mike Green of the Washington Capitals, Mike Komisarek of the Montreal Canadiens and Erik Johnson of the St. Louis Blues all shoot from the starboard side and all have the potential to be Norris Trophy candidates in the not-so-distant future. But it was at the 2008 draft where right-shooting defensemen exploded onto the scene. In fact, the…